Donna
by donquichotte
Summary: Just the slightest change of circumstance, and the story is skewed.


I do not own Doctor Who, nor anything else that may appear in this story.

oO*Oo

Donna heard the explosion a moment before the blast of hot air rolled over her. Whipping around, she stared at the inferno that engulfed what had once been a large Henrick's across the road. Caught in the crowd of gawping spectators, Donna employed her elbows to good effect and slowly managed to fight her way into a dark side street. Panting, she leaned against a wall and turned her thoughts to how she was going to reach her car without wading through the throng. Footsteps at the other end of the narrow street broke her concentration and she looked up to see a tall man emerge from some sort of service door, wrestling with what appeared to be a shop mannequin. Locked together, the pair crashed to the ground, causing Donna to let out a yelp.

"Stop it!" she shrieked. "Stop!"

They ignored her, still grappling. The leather-clad man got the upper hand and, using his leverage pulled the arm off the dummy. Donna gasped, first in horror, then in astonishment as the man's opponent seemed undeterred. The man tossed her the plastic arm, freeing his hand, and promptly shone a blue penlight at the mannequin freezing it. Hopping to his feet, the man strode towards her. As he approached, she could see that his face was streaked with soot and her nose picked up a smoky burnt odour.

"Are you okay? Is _he _okay? Oh my God, you pulled his arm off!"

"'M fine. He's just plastic. Run along, now. Nothing to see." The man growled in with a distinctive Northern burr.

"Are you joking? The Henrick's is burning, police everywhere, and then you turn up wrestling a shop dummy." Donna narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I bet you had something to do with all this."

"Yes, well done; you've found me out. Bye, now." He sidestepped her and strode away. Donna hurried to follow, jogging to keep up.

"You can't say something like that and then swan off!"

"Yes, I can. This is me, swanning off. And I'd be doing it a lot better if you'd stop following me."

"Oi! I am _talking_ to you!" Donna prodded the man with the plastic arm. "There's a burning building back there! You know something – you have to go to the police!"

"Police can't help. This is beyond them." He stopped in front of a large blue box.

"'_Police Public Call Box'_." Donna read aloud from the box's panels. Turning back to the man, she saw him disappear into the box. "What are you gonna do in there?" She caught the door just before it closed and slipped inside. She'd been expecting a cramped and dark space, but she found herself in a huge room, lit with a golden glow.

"What –? How –?" Donna's knees turned to rubber and she sat down hard on the floor.

"You've done it now." The man grumbled from his position at the central column. "No help for it, though. Where do you live?"

"Chiswick." Donna answered weakly.

"Right. Chiswick it is." The room began to shake and Donna grabbed a nearby strut.

"What is this place? It's impossible! Oh my God! Are you an alien?"

"Yeah."

"Listen here, Martian; I am not participating in your sick experiments! You can just shove all your 'superior technology' up your –"

"What are you on about?"

"Well, you know, like in the films. The aliens always want to experiment on the women."

"I'm not that kind of alien," said the man with an eye roll, "and I'm not from Mars!" he added indignantly before turning serious again. "Do you believe me?"

"Yeah." Donna breathed, surprised by the truth in that. She took a deep breath. "Okay. Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"Just 'the Doctor'."

"Whatever, Spaceman. I'm Donna, Donna Noble."

"Nice to meet you, Donna. I'd shake your hand, but I'm a touch busy."

He was that, or seemed to be, as he rushed around pressing buttons and pulling levers. Donna stared, certain that – alien or not – he was completely mad. She edged towards the door and pulled herself upright. Her hand was on the door handle when the Doctor spoke.

"I wouldn't try that. We're in full temporal grace."

"What?" Spinning, Donna faced him. "What are you on about?"

"The TARDIS. She's mid-flight; opening that door could injure us all."

"The what?"

"The TARDIS."

"The what?"

"The TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."

"You're just making things up!"

"I am not. _Now_ you can open that door and run along home. Go on."

She stared at him and then huffed grumpily "Thanks for nothing, Martian Boy." She stormed through the door. Then she stopped dead and stared. They'd moved. Somehow, impossibly, she stood in a small street just blocks away from her house. Whirling around, she gaped as the box faded from sight, the light flashing, a strange grinding sound filling the air.

"Bloody alien." She grumbled and set off for home.

oO*Oo

"Look, I'm sorry, Mum. But it was a mess out there, police cars, firetrucks, ambulances – the works. And that's not even counting all the morons who stopped to watch." Donna waited while her mother answered, then sighed into the phone. "Yes, I know you need the car tonight, but I don't have it." Another response. "Well, tough. Yes, bye!" Hanging up violently, Donna massaged her temples.

"All right, there, sweetheart?"

"Yeah. That was Mum. You know how we get, Granddad."

Wilf sighed, indeed knowing first-hand the inevitable clash of forceful personalities.

"Granddad? Have you ever seen something that nobody will believe? Something incredible?"

"I suppose I have, luv. What is this about?"

"You know I've always laughed at you when you talk about aliens and such? Well, I wouldn't laugh now."

"You've seen something?"

"I…I – oh my God; I got into a strange alien's spaceship! And it looked like a bloody police box!" Donna laughed hysterically. "And he gave me a plastic arm!"

"Donna, sweetheart, calm down. Tell me from the beginning."

So Donna spilled the whole story to her grandfather, who listened patiently, comfortingly. When she finished, they sat in silence for a moment before Wilf grinned and nudged Donna with an elbow.

"Teach you to laugh at me, m'girl. Eh?"

"Yeah. Learned my lesson, I have."

"That'll be the day. Now, how 'bout we go out to that pizza place you like? Sound good? You go out and start the car; I just need to take out the trash."

"Take the arm, would you? Not exactly a great souvenir, is it?"

oO*Oo

Eager to put the day's events out of her mind, Donna pulled out of the driveway and began detailing her co-worker's latest disastrous holiday the moment Wilf slammed the door shut. A few minutes later, she pulled into the parking lot and they entered the restaurant together, Donna still chattering, secure in the knowledge that her grandfather always had a listening ear.

"I told him before he left, I said 'watch out for pick pockets and those gypsy types', but did he listen? No. And next thing he knows, he's in a foreign country with no money, no papers, no cell phone and nobody can understand him. I mean, can you believe it?"

"How did you meet the Doctor?"

Donna, having paused, was fully prepared to go on, full steam, expecting no answer, but his non-sequitur stopped her.

"I already told you all about it, earlier. And I just want to leave it behind me now."

"It was at that shop, wasn't it? Something to do with that?"

"Sort of, but what –"

"What was he doing there?"

Frowning, Donna eyed her grandfather. He almost never interrupted her, and here he had done it twice in the space of a few minutes.

"I'm not talking about him, Granddad. I think he's dangerous, the Doctor."

The smile staying fixed on his face, Wilf leaned forward intently. "You can tell me anything. I just want to help you, sweetheart, darling, love." The last few words came out in quick succession, almost overlapping.

"What?"

A hand shoved a bottle into Wilf's line of sight. "Your champagne, sir."

"I didn't order any." Narrowing her eyes Donna looked over her grandfather suspiciously. He was acting very oddly: his interruptions, his renewed fixation with the Doctor, his fixed expression, his rudeness to the waiter.

"What's wrong Granddad?"

She started as the champagne was thrust under her nose.

"Your champagne, ma'am."

Waving it off, Donna leaned towards Wilf. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?" The waiter sounded quite bewildered.

Wilf looked up with a totally uncharacteristic anger-filled expression which immediately transformed into triumph. Turning, Donna looked up to see the Doctor standing there with the bottle.

"Oh, I was just toasting the occasion. On the house!" With that exclamation, he let the cork fly straight into Wilf's forehead. Donna shrieked before noticing that her granddad's forehead had apparently absorbed the cork. Then, she shrieked again as Wilf spat it out.

"He's – oh God! – he's like those mannequins!"

Wilf grinned predatorily. "Well then." From one instant to the next, his hands became clubs and he smashed at the table. Donna leapt away and the Doctor stepped forward and pulled off Wilf's head. The plastic features grinned.

"Oh that won't stop me."

The headless body began rampaging around the restaurant and Donna burst into action. Running to the wall, she pulled the fire alarm and screamed. "Everybody out! Now! Get out!"

As the restaurant patrons hastened to obey, Donna followed the Doctor into the kitchens and repeated her instructions to the chefs. A quick glance revealed that the plastic figure was following them. Donna doubled her pace.

They emerged into a little back-alley court yard. An enclosed back-alley court yard. Frantic, Donna thumped at the locked gate as the mannequin pounded on the door they had just used.

"Help me!" she shrieked. "It's almost through the door! Use your pen-thing!"

"The sonic screwdriver? Nope. Come along, this is much better." He strolled, into his police box, which, somehow, Donna hadn't seen until that moment.

She stood in the huge chamber, adrenaline still coursing through her.

"Won't it get in?"

"The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door and believe me they've tried."

Looking around, Donna found herself nearly as befuddled as the first time she'd been in this impossible room.

"Take your time. 'S just the culture shock. Happens to the best of us." The Doctor said kindly, picking up on her inner turmoil.

Donna glared at him for the condescension. Then her eyes caught sight of something over the Doctor's shoulder and she screamed.

"Granddad! Oh my God! What's happened to him? He was all plastic and then you pulled off his head and now he's melting!"

"Melting?" The Doctor yelped and turned frantically. "No no no no. The signal's faded." he worked the controls on his funny console. Then, striding past Donna to the door, he walked out.

"But the plastic thing!" Donna's protest, as was becoming usual, was ignored. Cautiously, she followed the Doctor.

For the second time in as many days, she was inexplicably somewhere else.

"That box, the '_TAR-DIS_'" Donna made quotes with her fingers to accompany her heavy cynicism, "it, like, teleports, or something."

"Or something," he agreed distractedly. "I was _so_ close!"

"But that _thing_! And all those people! What'll happen to them?"

"Oh, it'll have melted with the head. Is that all, or are you going to witter on all night?"

"What about Granddad?"

"Hmm?"

"My Granddad! He was all plastic and you just went and _pulled his head off_! He's dead, oh my God, he's dead and _you!_ You just forgot about him! Again!"

Livid, Donna brought her arm up and gave him a hard slap.

"Oi!" He shouted clutching his cheek and looking betrayed.

"You really are an alien, aren't you?" Donna spat disgustedly.

"Look, I'm trying to save the life of every _stupid_ ape blundering on top of this planet, alright? I can't keep track of every little person! And he might be fine – that was just a copy!"

Focusing on that hope, Donna let go of her anger and turned it into determination. "Okay, all right. Let's go."

"Where?" He asked, surprised.

"Wherever we need to go to find my Granddad."

"All right then, the Nestene –"

"And what does this thing have against us, anyways?" Donna demanded.

"Nothing, it loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air... perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. Its food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth... dinner!" Despite the grim words, the Doctor delivered the little speech cheerfully.

"And how do we stop it?"

"Anti-plastic." He displayed his wide, mad grin as he brandished a vial pulled from his coat.

"You're joking." That was just ridiculous – like something out of a bad sci-fi programme.

"Nope."

Bloody alien.

"But I've still got to _find_ the thing; how can it be hiding something so big in such a small city?" Obviously agitated, the Doctor paced, his eyes searching the skyline.

"What exactly is it hiding?"

Apparently the thing was hiding a giant metal wheel somewhere nearby. Hang on…

"… Must be completely invisible," he mused.

Donna gazed over his shoulder at the London Eye – one big metal wheel? Check. She coughed and tipped her head pointedly. He spun and turned back to her, oblivious.

"What?"

They repeated this exchange a few times before Donna gave up. Grabbing his prominent ears, she forcibly turned his face towards the attraction.

"Do you see it now? Or do I need to spell it out for you, you bloody alien?"

A grin broke out over his face, mad and reckless and bright as a sunrise.

"Fantastic! Knew you couldn't be completely useless…"

"Oi!"

oO*Oo

With his long legs, the Doctor's pace far surpassed Donna's and, finding herself falling behind, she put on a burst of speed and grabbed at his jacket.

He turned to look at her forbiddingly and she glared back (as well as she could while panting heavily).

"Slow down Spaceman!"

"Keep up, Ape!"

But he pulled back enough that she could keep up.

They ran across town, finally stopping near the base of the Eye. Donna bent over, breathing hard; she hadn't run like that in … years. Her legs burned, her heart pounded and her lungs felt like they were exploding, but she hadn't felt so alive in a long time.

"The Consciousness will be somewhere underneath the transmitter."

"How'll we get there?"

"What are you on about?"

"You know, like in the films, the aliens hole up at the center of the Earth. Bit of a climb, that."

He stared at her for a moment in incomprehension. "I was thinkin' a little closer to the surface, actually." He pointed to a manhole.

"Oh. Charming." Much as she hated the idea of mucking around in the maintenance tunnels, her granddad needed her and she would do whatever it took to save him. And, if she were honest, this Doctor, this alien, he meant something, too. And, of course, there was the whole threat-on-the-planet-by-a-plastic-creature problem to deal with.

They pried up the manhole, releasing billows of smoke. Peering into the red glow, Donna shuddered, but when the Doctor lowered himself down below street level, she hesitated no more than a moment before following him down.

They climbed down and down and finally arrived in a large chamber. Immediately, Donna's eyes were drawn to the huge orange mass undulating in the middle of the room.

"That's it?"

"Yeah," the Doctor confirmed, "the Nestene Consciousness."

"Well, go on." She gestured impatiently. "Finish it off."

"You humans – always so bloodthirsty. I've got to give it a chance."

"It's killed people, Doctor. I saw the news – two dead in the Henricks, and not from the fire. And in that restaurant – things could have been a lot worse. If a human had done those things, would you be giving him second chances?"

"And would you be the one to pull the trigger? Could you do that? This isn't a comic book, or a program on the telly; this is real life, Donna Noble."

"Oh, stop playing the merciful god and give me the damn anti-plastic, Doctor." Not waiting for an answer, she reached into the pocket of the leather jacket and grabbed the vial.

"Donna Noble!" the Doctor thundered, but Donna had just caught sight of a familiar figure huddled on a platform above them.

"Granddad!"

Pushing past the Doctor, she ran to her grandfather, relieved beyond words to find him alive and none the worse for wear. The old man caught her in a tight hug and stroked her hair. He released her and they both turned to look at the writhing mass below

"You alright, love? Is that the Doctor, there? Are we safe?"

"I don't know, Granddad. He, the Doctor I mean, thinks he can get it to leave, but I just don't know."

The man in question had used Donna's distraction to begin negotiating with the Nestene. While the Doctor spoke in English, the plastic creature's responses were odd rumbling noises. Judging by what she was getting out of the one-sided conversation, things were not going well for them.

"This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf - please, just go."

"Doctor!" Donna shrieked, noting the approach of some mannequins.

The plastic men grabbed him before he could react. Furious, the Doctor struggled to free himself.

"I came to talk peacefully!"

A set of doors flew open, revealing the TARDIS.

"Yes, that's my ship," he admitted.

"That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war - it wasn't my fault! I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!" the Doctor shouted in response to a growl from the plastic.

"Doctor, what's happening?"

"It's the TARDIS! The Nestene has identified its superior technology - it's terrified! It's going to the final base. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Donna! Just leg it! Now!"

A weird pulsing sound filled the air.

"It's the activation signal! It's transmitting!" the Doctor said desperately.

Terrified, Donna turned to the stairs, and reached for her grandfather's hand only to find that hers was already full. She stared uncomprehendingly at the vial clenched in her fist before her mind made the connection.

She moved to the railing and in a swift movement tossed the anti-plastic into roiling mass below.

The signal cut out and the Autons holding the Doctor captive loosed their grip enough for him to shake free.

"Now we're in trouble." He grinned and leaped up the stairs.

The three of them, Donna, Wilf and the Doctor, gathered in front of the TARDIS as the room started to shake, pieces of the roof and walls crashing to the floor. They filed in, the Doctor going immediately to the console.

"You told me it was bigger on the inside, but it's different seeing it! This is incredible!" Wilf enthused, staring wide-eyed.

"Have we met?" the Doctor asked suddenly, peering at Wilf. "You seem familiar…"

"I would remember, I think."

"Maybe not. That's one problem with changing faces, you know, your friends don't know you from the High Orator of Parsimone. O' course, neither do your enemies, usually."

"Come again?"

"Right," cut in Donna, deciding to ignore this bit of nonsense, "take us home? Chiswick."

"Well, aren't you a bossy one? But, as it happens, I'm a step ahead of you." He pulled the door open to reveal that same street where he had dropped her off earlier – God, could it be that same day?

"I'll have some respect, if you please," Donna sniffed as she sailed past him. "Saved the planet, I did."

"Yes, you did. Thank you," the Doctor said sincerely. "I'll just be going, then…uh…that is, unless you wanted to come with me?"

It was almost cute, Donna thought, him asking like that. Like a school boy asking out the girl he fancied. Good thing they'd gotten that conversation out of the way already.

"'S not just a London hopper, you know," he began and the rambling little speech that followed only added to her mental image.

She thought back to how it had felt to run across London with him, how strong she had felt, knowing what she had to do and then doing it. She wanted to go with him, but…

"Doctor, I have a job, and my family…"

"Did I mention it travels in time?" He grinned hugely.

"Donna, m'girl. If you don't go with him now, you'll regret it. Go on, love. And think of your old granddad sometimes."

"All right. I'm in, Doctor."

And, with a last hug to her grandfather, she followed the alien man into his strange spaceship, a smile on her face.

oO*Oo

I may or may not continue this series, as inspiration strikes.


End file.
